What does the rapid increase inbreast augmentation sayabout all of us?

A few weeks ago we ran into a relative who had beengoing through a difficult patch in her life. What I sawmade my heart sink. Our relative had gotten breastaugmentation surgery since the last time I had seenher. For whatever reason it just smacked me in theface because I had thought she was such anattractive woman—she carried herself with the kind of grace that makes a person look even more beautiful,not less, with age. So it really upset me that she hadfelt the need to change herself and, in my view, lookless real and frankly to my eye less attractive.This set my mind off: What the hell is going on in our country that women think they need fake breasts tobe okay with their bodies? What does that say aboutwomen? What does that say about men? And what isgoing on with gender when fake is so much moreadored than something real?

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♦◊♦While some experiments with breast augmentationdate back to the 19

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century, the first widespread usewas during the 1940s, when Japanese prostitutesbegan to have their breasts injected with substancessuch as paraffin in the hope that Americanservicemen stationed there after the war would favor them with larger breasts.Fast-forward to today. Over 300,000 women andteenage girls underwent surgery last year to havetheir breasts enlarged with silicone or saline implants,and more than 80,000 more had reconstruction after being treated for cancer. According to DianaZuckerman, president of the National ResearchCenter for Women & Families, the number of cosmetic implants hastripled over the last decade.And 40,000 with implants underwent